This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2001-308141, filed Oct. 4, 2001, and 2001-320207, filed Oct. 18, 2001, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a molded resin article such as automotive seat cushions and office chair cushions, and more particularly to a mold-in fastening member embedded in the cushion in which upholstery material such as cloth is fixed to the cushion.
2. Discussion of the Background
An automotive seat or office chair seat is generally produced by covering the surface of a cushion made of foamed polyurethane or the like with a seat cover (upholstery material). In a background production, a so-called xe2x80x9cHogringxe2x80x9d method is employed, in which a cushion having molded-in wires is produced by embedding wires retained in a recess of a mold into the cushion, and the seat cover is attached to the cushion by a large number of metal fixing members that engage the molded-in wires with the seat cover. The procedure of the Hogring method is accomplished by the aid of an electric tool.
Recently, a new molding method has been proposed for the production of an automotive seat, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-260150. This xe2x80x9cmold-inxe2x80x9d method involves fitting fastening members, i.e., flat fastener tapes, each having a large number of engaging elements (hook elements) on its top surface in a recessed position of a mold, injecting a foaming resin into the mold, and expanding the resin such that a portion of each fastening member is integrally embedded in the surface of the cushion and the engaging elements are bared on its outer surface. The cushion is finally covered with a seat cover having on a back surface elements (loop elements) capable of engaging with the engaging elements of the fastening members.
In the mold-in method, a plurality of fastening members are provided on a resin molded article to ensure the close contact of a upholstery material with the resin molded article through its wide surface, thereby producing a product having a good appearance. Until now, a plurality of the fastening members in the form of long and narrow tapes have been manually fit to respective recessed portions of a mold.
The inventors of the present invention recognized that in the background mold-in methods, since operators must set long and narrow fastening members one by one into the recessed portions of a mold, the setting procedure is considerably time-consuming. Therefore, it has been required to improve assembly efficiency.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to solve the above-noted and other problems. To solve these and other problems, the present invention provides connected fastening members that enable simultaneous fitting of fastening members to corresponding recessed portions of a mold in a single operation.
According to one example of the present invention, connected fastening members include a plurality of mold-in fastening members each including a substrate, a first surface having a number of engaging elements, a second surface with no engaging element, and connecting members for connecting the mold-in fastening members. The mold-in fastening members are arranged in juxtaposition, and the connecting members are disposed to cover at least a part of the second surface of each mold-in fastening member.
In one exemplary embodiment, the mold-in fastening members are disposed with lengthwise ends spaced from each other at predetermined intervals, or disposed substantially in close contact with each other without leaving space between the lengthwise ends. The connecting member preferably include a resin molded article or a porous material.
According to another example, the present invention also provides a process for producing a molded article with fastening members including fitting each fastening member of the connected fastening members to a corresponding recess formed in a mold with the engaging elements facing a bottom surface of the recess, injecting a resin into the mold, and curing the resin.